The Hog Hunt That Wasn’t: Part 3

It was way too late in the day to drive straight to Texas, so we decided to stop in Fort Wayne, Arkansas for the night. I got us a room at this fleabag motel that was dirt cheap and right off the interstate, and as such, shared a parking lot with a liquor store, a pawn shop, and a McDonalds. The room had all the latest styling and accouterments you could hope to find: dull semi stained carpet, a tv bolted to the wall, Wi-Fi was 5 bucks a night extra, towels that smelled of smoke. And most importantly two twin beds with three grown men abiding in them. You do the math. We decided that Dad would get his own bed, and that my brother and I would share the other one.

My brother and I were hungry so we walked to the McDonalds across the way to grab some dinner to go, carrying concealed of course. My brother had a very conventional CCW rig, a .380 ACP single stack pocket pistol in an inside the waistband holster. I, on the other hand, was trying to pull double duty with mine. My weapon of choice was an N-Frame Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum with a 6 ½ inch barrel in an original Smith and Wesson shoulder holster. It laid comfortably under my armpit and against my rib cage, and was much easier to conceal that I had imagined, with a coat on of course. I figured that it would work equally well on pigs as other critters. Plus, I felt a little like Det. Harry Callahan. Luckily, we encountered no mischief and we got back to our room unscathed with a big box of chicken nuggets and soft drinks in tow.

We ate dinner by the soft glow of the neon lights at the liquor store while watching a very strange Japanese language sci-fi film. After the film ended we went to sleep. Correction. My brother and my dad went to sleep. I spent a good portion of the night elbowing my brother to stay on his side, stop snoring, and to prevent him from spooning with me. The combination of the late night junk food dinner, strange dreams in Japanese, and my brother’s attempt to try and score with me did not lend itself to a good nights rest.